Email etiquette

Email etiquette.

Here are some tips on sending emails:

DO

Firstly, and most importantly, ensure that you have anti-virus software on your
computer.

To - use to send direct to recipients. Check that you have the correct recipient.
Sometimes as you type in the To box, a list of names pops up as you type. Please
make sure you send the email to the correct person. I would suggest that you add
the recipient in last to prevent accidentally sending half complete emails and to
ensure that you have addressed it to the correct person.

Be very careful if you are mentioning other people in emails - sometimes when
rushing people can email it to the person they are referring to which may cause
embarassment.

CC - use to send copies of the email to recipients - ie to those that need to know
what is going on but you are not directly addressing.

BCC - use to send a blind copy of the email to a recipient or to keep email
addresses anonymous to other recipients eg when sending an enewsletter (no one
wants everyone to see their email address).

Subject: ensure you complete the Subject box. It's important for recipients to see
quickly what the subject of the email is about. If you do not complete this, some
recipients may worry it is spam and not open it.

When forwarding emails - let the person you are forwarding to know why you believe
the email is of interest to them.

Include an email signature including your name and contact details.

Use punctuation. No one wants to read an email that has been put into one long
sentence.

If you are sending a large attachment, contact the recipient first to ask if it's
OK.

DO NOT

Do not use Reply to All if the email has been sent to you as a BCC otherwise you
will reveal yourself as a recipient of the original email.

Do not forward emails to others containing passwords, proposals, quotes for work
(unless you have obtained permission from the person providing the quote), the
email addresses of others who the original was sent to (these may be private to
others outside of your company).

Do not send 'chain emails'.

Do not type everything in capital letters (shouting) or lower case letters.

Before you send:

Take time to check that:

You are sending your email to the intended recipient(s). Sometimes when completing
the To box, it can provide a selection of recipients from your address book and you
could easily choose the wrong one!

You have no spelling errors in your emails - use a spell checker but also read
through the text as spell checkers do not pick up words that are correct but are
wrong within the context of what you have typed.